Ghana’s coach at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Otto Addo, has described this year’s tournament as a big win for African coaches.
Addo who qualified and led the Black Stars at the Qatar tournament says while the narrative will undoubtedly be about Morocco’s impressive semi-final and eventual fourth place at the World Cup, the real victory was the giant strides made by African coaches at the tournament.
The tournament “opened a lot of eyes because people saw African and Asian teams can compete.”.
“I think you could see the impact of the (African) coaches being connected to the country. Also, tactically the teams were well prepared,” he told Forbes in an exclusive interview.
“It (sends) the message to create, not only your own players, but taking the next step to create your own coaches. And also for the federations to believe in the coaches.
“This hopefully inspires other coaches in Africa to believe in themselves, to grow and maybe to get a chance to represent their country.”
The significance was not lost on CAF, the Confederation of African Football. In a statement it said the five African managers leading their nations “represents a giant step towards the development of African football.”
Addo, who also works as a talent coach for German club Borussia Dortmund, was initially appointed assistant manager to Ghana’s previous manager, the Serbian Milovan Rajevac, in September 2021. In February, Addo was made manager and guided Ghana to the World Cup finals after a nail-biting play-off win over Nigeria.
Addo, who played for Ghana at the 2006 finals, became the first Ghanaian manager to win a match at the World Cup when the nation beat South Korea, 3-2. However, defeats to Portugal (3-2) and Uruguay (2-0) meant Ghana failed to progress to the knockout stage.